The dog days of summer are here, and as I step outside into the thick, soupy air that buzzes with the vibrato cries of cicadas, I am taken back to those lazy, hazy, crazy days of my youth when I would pass the time in the backyard hammock doing absolutely nothing. The hammock hung beneath the great catalpa tree that lorded over our old Pennsylvania farmhouse. The tree was huge—seventy feet tall with a wide, spreading canopy that gave shade to dogs, cats, humans, and any other

Random musings on my vagabond existence in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania and wherever else life takes me. After nearly two months of grieving following the recent loss of my mother, I can feel the old joy rising within me again like sap in a tree. It helps that Rachael and I have been spending a lot of time at our mountain house in northeastern Pennsylvania. What better place to get happy again than at your happy place? Nature is balm for my soul. It always has been t

Random musings on my vagabond existence in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania and wherever else life takes me. Tomorrow is the official start of Spring and there is still snow on the ground at our property in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania. All the seasons run late behind up here with the exception of winter, which arrives early and lingers well into April. It’s enough to make any sane man move to Florida to enjoy his retirement. But no thank you. I love the change